Remarks by Honourable Minister Stockwell Day on Correctional Services of Canada

Remarks by
Honourable Minister Stockwell Day on
Correctional Services of Canada

April 20, 2007
Ottawa, Ontario
As delivered

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

It's an honour for me to be here today to make this announcement. It follows through on this Government's commitment to review the correctional system.

Currently, 12,700 people are housed in our federal facilities across this country. Another 6,800 are under supervision in the community. Approximately 36 percent of federal offenders will be convicted of a new crime within two years of completing their sentence, the majority receiving some type of provincial sentence. Currently, some 11 percent of offenders are sentenced to serve another federal sentence within two years of their release. Five percent of these are violent re-offences.

The profile of an offender is changing over time. We've seen this in dramatic ways. One of four offenders in our federal facilities is there for homicide and four out of five arrive with substance abuse problems. Nine of out 10 people admitted into federal facilities have already offended at some time in their lives. The number of mental health issues is also on the rise.

The rate of gang involvement is up 33 percent in federal institutions. One out of six federal male offenders who arrive at our facilities is affiliated with a type of gang. For the female population, it's one out of 10 who arrive there from a gang-related situation.

In our country, Aboriginals represent three percent of our population and yet, nineteen percent of the federal prison population is Aboriginal.

Housing these inmates in a maximum-security facility costs more than $100,000. The average per year for female inmates is about $170,000. It then costs approximately $23,000 per inmate outside of the prison facility to access various rehabilitation programs.

These are the challenges that we are faced with.

Let me acknowledge our corrections officers who work in the system every day. They are committed to dealing with individuals, who, during their time in a facility, may get on a path to rehabilitation, and we'll see recidivism rates going down. We should commend the men and women who work in those facilities, in parole capacities and in back-up operations. They will certainly be among those who will be consulted as this review moves forward.

Our Government has said that the safety of its citizens is the prime objective of any government.

We take a two-sided approach. On the one hand, we want to enforce the laws and legislation to attack crime. On the other hand, we will focus on crime prevention.

We've taken a number of significant steps to meet our priority of providing safety and security for our citizens. That's why we made the announcement last year for more than 1,000 RCMP personnel over the next four years. We allocated in last year's budget $161 million to begin that process.

We're also discussing our other commitment – to see an additional 2,500 officers at the municipal level across the country. That discussion began with my provincial colleagues, policing associations and others.

You've seen us take steps to arm our border officers, and we've taken very clear steps to reduce crime with legislation.

My colleagues, Rob Nicholson and the Minister before him, Vic Toews, and others, have tabled 11 pieces of legislation designed to look specifically at reducing crime. We've got legislation on the table to define dangerous offenders and to see the age of sexual consent raised from 14 to 16 years. We have legislation to deal with everything from street racing to various types of activity for which we are asking that there be mandatory sentences, such as gun crime.

We're introducing measures, along with the resources, to increase screening of individuals applying for firearms licenses.

While maintaining our goal to enforce the law and have the long arm of the law work effectively as it should, we also talk about the open arms of the community. We have introduced crime prevention programs - especially those that are aimed toward youth, which steer them away from gang activity and not wind up one day in our federal facilities.

These are among the steps we've taken. We've increased resources for victims and victims of crime by creating a Victims Ombudsman.

We are continuing to move forward on common-sense legislation when it comes to keeping Canadians safe.

Today, we recognize the good work that has gone on in our corrections services along with the challenges and the changing profile of our prison population.

Today, I am announcing a review of our corrections system. Many things will be looked at. It's a tall order that these individuals have been given.

There is much to do and I want to see solutions. We want to know what types of programs work in terms of reducing recidivism and how effective they are. We want to know about the resources regarding mental health issues and study reports on women in prison and how we can better meet their needs. Aboriginal issues are in front of us. Then there are infrastructure issues. We are asking whether our facilities are as up to date as they can be and if we have the best technologies.

This is a broad mandate of issues, and we've asked that a report of the review come back to us by October 2007 so that the people of Canada can see where the improvements can be made.

Mr. Rob Sampson is chairing this particular review. His experience as an elected individual and as a Minister for reform in areas of corrections is going to be invaluable to this particular aspect.

Serge Gascon, a police officer from Montreal, has more than 30 years experience in all aspects of the criminal justice system. It's going to be an incredible wealth of experience that he brings to the table.

Mr. Ian Glen and his years of heading the Parole Board and as a Director and leader of the security establishment and experience in government operations are going to be very helpful.

Sharon Rosenfeldt, from Victims of Violence, offers learning and experience from dealing with the tragedy of the brutal murder of her late son, 16-year-old Daryn. This has led her to counsel other victims of crime and those struggling with drug and alcohol abuse.

Chief Clarence Louie, from Osoyoos, is unable to be here today but he also will be contributing insights about his particular operations, his band and the breakthroughs accomplished nationally regarding programs for the Aboriginal business community.

Each one of these individuals brings specific experience to the table. And though they will have the experience and the background of particular groups and individuals that they've represented, they will also offer insight at a broader level.

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that we have accomplished many things through the corrections system in place now. Our corrections officers are known around the world and people from other parts of the world come here to learn about how our system works. We have corrections officers in other parts of the world, including the ones I met when I was in Afghanistan just a few weeks ago.

Having said that, we are facing unique challenges, changing profiles and other pressures and issues. We want a system that is going to work for Canadians. We want a system that is going to deliver the safety and security to our communities when people come out of our corrections system. We believe that can be achieved.

We believe improvements can be made because of the valuable insights that will be shared by the review panel members as they go out now and meet with the many stakeholders involved significantly in our corrections system.

Among those here today is Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu from the Association of the Murdered or Missing Persons' Families' Association. Tony Cannavino from the Canadian Police Association, John Muise from the Canadian Centre for Abuse Awareness and Steve Sullivan of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, and many other key individuals are also here. This is just a sampling of those who will be bringing their expertise to the table so that we can have a very successful review of Canada's corrections system

I'm very pleased at this time to ask the chair of the review, Mr. Rob Sampson, to come to the podium and give us a few remarks.

Thank you.